What happens if you miss your flight? A no-nonsense guide for novice travellers

Last Updated on: 9th April 2026, 10:38 pm

Missed and cancelled flights are troublesome and worrying for novice travellers . What happens if you miss your flight, or it was cancelled? What should you do, if anything? The answer depends on many factors. Find out in this article.

Disclaimer: Information here is general and applies for ordinary situations. Actual policies vary by airlines and insurance companies that changes the outcome. Refer to the relevant services terms and conditions for your specific case. Additionally, the airline industry get a lot of complaints collectively because there are so many variables and different ticket retailers (travel agents, online platforms, direct through airlines) and not-so-obvious fees and individual methods of operation (either standard airline practice or not) which could be different to what you expect or is described here.

Missed your flight? What happens next depends on why you missed your flight.

The first thing people want to know after they miss a flight is whether they can get on the next flight at no extra cost. This is actually a form of compensation, and there are many types of compensation, but since this is the most sought after answer, I will explain this first.

If you miss your flight, are you automatically entitled to a free replacement seat on the next flight?

No. A lot of people assume that if they miss their flight, they can simply board the next available flight for free. The truth is, airlines are not obligated to give you a free flight at all if you miss your flight and it’s your fault. A better way to word this is if the delay was not caused by the airline.

If you missed your flight because it was your fault, the airline will not give you any sort of compensation at all. But what counts as your fault might not be so obvious, especially to novice travellers.

Click here to skip to information about when you are entitled to compensation, and what kind.

What counts as “passenger’s fault”?

Anything that the passenger could have controlled to get themselves to their boarding gate on time, counts as the passenger’s responsibility or fault. This includes things you might not think is directly controlled by you. It could be easier to ask yourself whether it was the airline’s fault you missed your flight. If it wasn’t their fault, then they are not obligated to compensate passengers.

The following are all things that are the passenger’s responsibility (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Traffic – yes, traffic. Even though you are not responsible for traffic, if you miss your flight because you were stuck in traffic, the airline will not give you any compensation, because you could have taken that into consideration and left for the airport earlier.

• Queuing – Got held up in line at the airport? If you have to go through tourist tax refunds before boarding your flight and didn’t take that into consideration and missed your flight, that’s your fault. Long queues at the airport going through security? Still your fault, you could have arrived earlier.

However, note: airport staff at a good airport will cooperate with airlines. They know if there is a delay somewhere, and will prioritise travellers with an imminent flight, for example, a flight departing in 30 minutes or less and you are still stuck in the customs queue. They will call out and ask people who have a flight soon and announce the flight time (eg, Passengers who have a boarding time within 20 minutes or so) and tell them to come to the front of the queue. This is more of a workaround within the restrictions, since you still need abide by the security requirements, and not a given universal tactic. This does not go apply for private businesses like a coffee shop, although you could try and ask the person in front of you nicely so skip ahead.

Missed a flight during a layover? What happens depends on the type of transfer you have.

Obviously, in trips with a transfer, a delay in the first flight can cause you to miss a connecting second flight. What happens though, depends on the type of transfer you have.

To understand the rest of this guide, you first need to understand how delays in one area (whether it is a flight or something else) can cause someone to miss their flight later.

Many international flights, even domestic flights, have layovers where you need to change for a second plane at the layover city. If the first flight is delayed arriving for some reason, you may miss the second flight, called your connecting flight, to your final destination. The reason I say “may” is because as usual, it gets a little complicated.

There are two types of transfers: self transfers vs built-in traditional transfers.

A traditional transfer is when you buy a ticket from A to C and there is a transfer at B, and the two flights are made under 1 booking. The two flights could be by the same airline, or two different airlines that are working together. This is like a door to door service provided by the airline, and you don’t leave the airport security area and don’t need to pick up your luggage and bring it back in yourself – it’s all transferred to the second plane behind the scenes. If the layover is in a different country to country C, since you don’t go through border control, you won’t need to get a visa for that country.

In this kind of transfer, because the two flights are arranged to cooperate, when the first flight is slightly delayed, the second flight would be told about delays in the first flight and wait for the passengers from the first flight, so it is unlikely that you miss the connecting flight, unless you personally experience some sort of problem along the way. Usually the delay could be made up along the flight to the next destination.

Cooperating airlines and flights from the same airline communicate with each other and are aware of delays. Arrangements will be made and this information is told to passengers during the flight by flight attendants. If you have a connection to make, the flight attendants will make special note of this (because your ticket for the connecting flight was purchased together, they will know).

If the passengers are required to find ground staff for help, the flight attendants can tell you where to find this. Usually the airlines have a service counter at the layover airport in the transfer terminal not far from the arrival gate, you can always go to these counters for help.

A self-transfer is not a real transfer so much as two separate flights, booked separately even if they are from the same airline. This is when, in order to get from A to C, you take a flight from A to B, deboard the first plane, collect your checked luggage if any, then go through security and border control. If B is a different country to destination C, then you will have officially arrived in the country B, so you will need to abide by visa requirements. Then, in order to get your second flight to destination C, you will need to check back in to collect your second boarding pass, check your luggage, go through security, border control, and finally to your second boarding gate.

In this case, since the two flights are completely unrelated, and the passenger is entirely responsible for getting themselves to the second flight. If the first flight is delayed, and you have a short layover that is not long enough for you to check out and check back in, you may miss your next flight, and the airline is not responsible at all if you miss it and you will not receive any compensation.

What if you miss a flight because it’s an airline’s fault? When will an airline give compensation to passengers?

Delays that are not the fault of the passenger, will be considered how they are related to the airline and will fall into two categories: either it is a controllable delay (controlled by the airline) or it is uncontrollable (not controlled by the airline). What kind of compensation you can get, if any, depends on what kind of delay it is.

Controlled delays

Controlled delays are things that are within control of the airline. These are things like mechanical (engineering inspection, repairs, re-fuelling), staff shortage, and plane turnaround times (which are affected by the previously mentioned things).

For example, if the plane doesn’t pass engineer’s inspections (a mechanical issue) for the next departure, that plane would be out of service, and so the airline will try to move everyone to a new flight if the plane cannot be fixed in time for an on-time departure. In this case, it will be done at no extra expense to the passenger.

Uncontrolled delays

Uncontrolled delays are delays caused by things outside of the airline’s control, such as bad weather or government mandates. For example, sudden border or airspace closures, or air traffic control directions (which follow government rules, local weather, or local incidences).

In this case, a delay that cause you to miss the connecting flight might not entitle you to any compensation.

It is important to read the terms and conditions of your flight plane ticket and any travel insurance policies you buy to see what is covered and what happens in various conditions. Different airlines have different polices regarding uncontrolled delays.

Typically, larger airlines would put passengers on the next available flight for free, or give you the option of a refund if suitable arrangements can’t be made, but won’t pay for accommodation or food. Some airlines’ policies only start if the delay is over a certain amount of time, such as 3 hours (this actually goes for train travel in Europe too). Smaller airlines might give you credit instead of a refund.

Weather and force majeure

If you missed a flight due to bad weather, this is usually categorised as “force majeure”, and airlines will generally rebook you on the next available flight for free, if possible. But, accommodation and food isn’t a given, but if your layover is long and overnight, you can always ask.

Missed connections

For traditional transfers, only delays up to a certain duration is acceptable for the connecting flight to wait for. Significant delays (for example, hours, while waiting for aircrafts to be repaired) would mean the connecting flight would leave without waiting, and in this case, the airline would have to rebook you on another flight for free. If there is a significant layover until the next flight, the airline should provide accommodation and food.

What kind of compensation do airlines give?

Types of compensation that airlines might give

If you missed your flight because of the airline’s fault, then you are entitled to compensation. This is usually either a cash refund, or a credit for your next booking, or free re-booking on the next flight. But a refund or rebooking aren’t the only type of compensation that travellers want or expect (even if they erroneously expect it).

Usually airlines will try to put you on a new flight. If they cannot book you on a new flight, they can give you either a refund or credit. Larger airlines tend to give refunds, smaller airlines give credit, which is less flexible.

Here are the compensation methods in order of commonness:

Free re-booking on the next flight

This is the most common and most expected type of compensation that airlines would give customers expect. This is when passengers are re-booked for the next available flight for free.

Refund

A refund is when the airline gives you actual money back to you via the same way you paid for the ticket. This can be tricky.

But note: If you bought the ticket through a third party seller, eg a travel agent or an online flight aggregator (such as Webjet, Kayak, Expedia), the refund is sent to them, and the third party is supposed to pass on the refund to you. Sometimes the third party retailer might not do this, then you might not actually receive the refund. This is something you will need to talk to the ticket issuer for.

Credit

Airline credit is when they give you a voucher for a discount to the same value of the cancelled or missed flight. This is understandably not popular with a lot of people, because it means you have to go on another trip with the same airline and the value of the voucher is locked to this airline. It can also come with conditions like expiry dates and blackout dates (dates that you can’t use the voucher).

Tip: Find out the airline terms and conditions for cancellations and delays before you buy any ticket as well as the terms and conditions for refunds for where ever you buy the ticket from.

Food and refreshments

For clarity: Food and refreshment compensation isn’t the same as on-board food and beverage. Here, I mean when flights are delayed for several hours, some airlines may hand out free snacks and water to the passengers while they wait. This could happen if the flight is delayed for say 2-4 hours, at 2 hour intervals.

Accommodation and Food

If the flight is significantly delayed and requires overnight stays (eg if the first plane is delayed due to mechanical issues), or, if there is a built-in layover, then some airlines may provide free overnight accommodation and food. For example, Xiamen Airlines does this, in my trips with them, to several places in China, I had a layover and Xiamen Airlines provided not only accommodation, but also food. Not all airlines do this, in fact, most do not, which is why you see reports of many people sleeping at airports at boarding gates during significant delay seasons, like winter in the northern hemisphere (airlines don’t provide free accommodation and the passengers are either unwilling to pay for it themselves, or the delay isn’t long enough for it to be worth leaving the airport, checking in to a hotel, checking out, then re-checking in at the airport).

Cancellations – cancelled flights and passenger rights

A flight can be cancelled by the airline for various reasons. If the airline cancels the flight, they are required to issue a refund to the customer, whereas if the customer cancels the flight, they may not be entitled to any refunds depending on the ticket they bought.

Therefore if there is some sort of industrial uncertainty (such as the current global fuel shortage), you should always wait for the airline to cancel your flight than to cancel it yourself.

How does Travel Insurance fit in to all this?

Different travel insurance packages have different policies and cover different things. As far as compensation for delays and missed flights/trains go, where the airline won’t provide compensation, travel insurance might. You will have to check the insurance policy to see what they cover, but here is how it generally works: For things that the airline cannot cover or compensate for, travel insurance could take care of it.

If a flight is cancelled, and you are stranded and need overnight accommodation and food, this is something insurance may reimburse you for if the airline does not provide it and you have to pay for it yourself. Keep the receipts and use that to make a claim to insurance.

Under certain conditions, some insurance policies may even cover missed or delayed flights/trains, these policies are separate to what the transportation providers have. For example, while travel insurance won’t cover foreseeable or predictable delays like traffic, they might cover unpredictable traffic accidents that cause you to ultimately miss your flight.

Travel insurance policies also cover cancelled holidays that is the result of cancelled flights due to unpredictable or unforeseen events like bad weather.

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